Methods for Voice Activated Dialing

ABSTRACT

Methods for routing a call based on voice activated dialing (VAD). A VAD device module may respond to a VAD instruction, or to a call received with a VAD instruction with a corresponding call destination number obtained from a personal VAD directory. If the personal VAD directory fails to include the call destination number, the VAD device module may route the call or initiate a call through a gateway to a VAD network module. The VAD network module may obtain call destination information from the VAD instruction, and may use the call destination information obtain the call destination number. The VAD network module may obtain additional information from the call or other source, and use the additional information to obtain the call destination number. The call then is routed to the call destination number. The call destination number may be added to the personal VAD directory.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional application of, and claimspriority to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/731,307, filed Dec. 9,2003, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety as if set forth fully herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTIONS

The inventions relate to communications, and particularly relate to thevoice activated dialing (VAD) of communications.

BACKGROUND

Voice activated dialing (VAD) is a popular time-saving feature availableon many communication devices. This feature enables a caller to simplyspeak an instruction such as “Call Michael” into his or hercommunications unit, and a call is placed to Michael's telephone number.Before the VAD feature may actually be used, however, the user typicallymust set up a personal VAD directory so that the VAD system is able tocarry out the instructions from the caller. The personal VAD directorymay include entries with each entry including an identity of a calledparty or entity and a corresponding telephone number. When the callerspeaks the call instruction, the VAD system matches the name or phrasespoken by the caller to an identity in the caller's personal VADdirectory, and the call is routed to the telephone number correspondingto the identity.

A problem with the VAD feature is that the extent of its use by a callergenerally depends on the content of the caller's personal VAD directory.If a caller gives the VAD instruction of “Call Bob”, and there is nomatch in the caller's personal VAD directory, then no VAD call can bemade to Bob. Thus, a user who has spent a lot of time and effortinputting or having input many names and corresponding telephone numbersinto his or her personal VAD directory has a lot of options in makingVAD calls. A user who has only a few names and corresponding telephonenumbers in his or her personal VAD directory is limited to making VADcalls to only those few people. But even a user who has a lot of entriesin his or her personal VAD directory may desire or find a need to make aVAD call to a person or entity who is not included in the user'spersonal VAD directory. Without a name and corresponding telephonenumber in the caller's personal VAD directory, the caller may not takeadvantage of the convenience and speed of VAD calling.

For example, a mother who is stuck in traffic and running late to pickup her daughter from day care may desire to place a call from her car tothe day care center to alert the personnel of her tardiness. Even if themother has a thousand or more entries in her personal VAD directory,unless she has included the day care center and its correspondingtelephone number in her personal VAD directory, she is unable to make aVAD call to the day care center.

Instead of making a VAD call, the mother must obtain the telephonenumber of the day care center from another source such as directoryassistance. Some directory assistance systems give the user the optionof having a call automatically placed to the requested telephone number.There may be a fee associated with this option. If the option isunavailable or the mother wants to avoid the fee, the mother must make anotation of or memorize the number provided by directory assistance.Only then can the mother place the call to the day care center. In sum,by failing to include the day care center and its telephone number inher personal VAD directory, the mother may have to carry out at leastthree steps in order to call the day care center: find the day carecenter's telephone number; note or memorize the telephone number; andcall the telephone number. Taking these steps obviously takes up timeand involves effort. The mother may not have the time nor be able toexpend the effort while stuck in traffic to safely carry out thesesteps.

In sum, there is a need for a way for a caller having the VAD feature onhis or her communications device to be able to make a VAD call to aperson or entity not included in the caller's personal VAD directory.

SUMMARY

Stated generally, the inventions relate to methods and systems thatallow for the voice activated dialing (VAD) of calls and othercommunications. Advantageously, the inventions solve problems ofconventional VAD systems. The inventions are generally able to route aVAD call even when the directory number for the destination in the VADinstruction is not present in the personal VAD directory of the caller.The caller is saved from having to look up or otherwise obtain thedirectory number. The caller also is saved from having to dial thedirectory number. In addition, the caller is saved from having to makeanother call for either the directory number or to use the obtaineddirectory number to reach the desired called party. A further advantageof the inventions is that the directory number obtained for the call maybe added to the personal VAD directory of the caller. Thus, theinventions save a caller time and effort.

Particularly, the inventions include an exemplary method to route a callbased on voice activated dialing (VAD). A call associated with a VADinstruction is received. Alternatively, a VAD instruction may bereceived, and a call created and routed based on the following describedactions. The VAD instruction may include a call destination that doesnot have a match in a personal VAD directory associated with the devicemaking the call. The call destination from the VAD instruction may betranslated into data, and the data may be used to obtain a calldestination number from another source such as a directory in a datanetwork. Occasionally, additional call destination information may haveto be obtained from the call and may be used to obtain the calldestination number. The call then may be routed to the call destinationnumber. Thus, the call may be completed to the caller's desireddestination even though the VAD instruction provided by the caller didnot include a match to a destination in the caller's personal VADdirectory. An advantage of this exemplary method is that the calldestination number that is obtained may be added to the personal VADdirectory of the caller.

The inventions also include an exemplary system for voice activateddialing (VAD). The system includes a VAD device module that may be apart of the caller's device, or may be communicatively connected to ormay reside in a voice communications network. The VAD device moduleresponds to the failure of a personal VAD directory to provide a calldestination number corresponding to a received VAD instruction. The VADinstruction may be received in association with a call. The VAD devicemodule responds to the failure by routing the call through a gateway toa VAD network module.

The VAD network module may reside in or may be communicatively connectedto a voice communications network and/or a data network. The VAD networkmodule may use the VAD instruction or part thereof to obtain a calldestination number from a directory, and to cause the call to be routedto the call destination number. To obtain the call destination number,the VAD network module may have to communicate with the call, thecaller, or other person or entity to obtain additional information.Further, the VAD network module may update the VAD device module withthe call destination number.

In sum, the inventions recognize and respond to a VAD instruction wherethe caller's personal VAD directory does not include a match to thedestination received in the VAD instruction. The inventions facilitatethe completion of the call per the VAD instruction by obtaining thedestination number from a source other than the personal VAD directoryof the caller. To obtain the correct destination number, the inventionsmay communicate with the call, caller, or other entity to obtainadditional information. Further, the inventions may record or give thecaller the option of recording the destination number and associatedinformation in his or her personal directory.

The advantages of the inventions may be more clearly understood andappreciated from a review of the following detailed description and byreference to the appended drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the inventions in anexemplary environment.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating some actions of an exemplarymethod of the inventions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventions allow a caller using voice activated dialing (VAD) tomake a call even if the caller's personal VAD directory fails to includea directory number for the destination the caller desires to call. Theinventions may detect the failure of the caller's personal VAD directoryto include the appropriate information, and respond to that failure byobtaining the directory number from another source. The caller is savedfrom having to look up the directory number or to obtain the directorynumber from an information source such as “directory assistance” orotherwise. In addition, the caller is saved from having to dial thedirectory number because the inventions may cause the call to becreated, and may cause the call to be routed to the directory number.

Advantageously, the inventions save the caller time and effort in makingcalls. Further, the inventions may include a feature that allows theobtained directory number to be included in the caller's personal VADdirectory. The caller is saved from having to input such information,thereby saving additional time and effort.

FIG. 1 Exemplary Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary environment 10 for implementation of anexemplary embodiment of the inventions. The environment 10 may include avoice communications network 12 connected to a data network 14. Thevoice communications network 12 may include, be part of, or be thepublic switched telephone network (PSTN), wireline network(s), and/orwireless network(s). The data network 14 may be a global datacommunications network such as the Internet and/or other network.Gateway 16 may be connected to, part of, may be connected between,and/or otherwise enable communications between the voice communicationsnetwork 12 and the data network 14. As described below, the gateway 16may include features and functions relating to the exchange ofinformation between the voice communications network 12 and the datanetwork 14, and/or other elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates a user's device 18 connected to the voicecommunications network 12 and to the data network 14. The illustrationrepresents a user who may be using one or more devices forcommunications. A user also may be referred to as a caller, a callingparty, a customer, or a subscriber. The illustration further representsthat the one or more of the devices 18 may have a VAD feature, and thatthe one or more devices may communicate via the voice communicationsnetwork 12 and/or the data network 14. The user's device may be referredto as a device, a unit, or a communications unit or otherwise. Thedevice may be a telephone or other wireline unit, a wireless unit suchas a mobile phone, a pager, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or acomputer, or other communications instrument.

As noted in the background, if a user has a device with a VAD feature,prior to the user being able to make a VAD call, a personal VADdirectory generally is set up by the user. The personal VAD directorymay be associated with one or more devices of the user, or otherwise maybe associated with the user. The personal VAD directory may includenames for parties and/or destinations that may be called by the user,and corresponding telephone numbers associated with the names and/ordestinations. The person or entity to whom a call is directed by thecaller may be referred to as the called party, destination, calltermination, or call destination.

In some cases, the personal VAD directory may reside in or be directlylinked to the user's device such as illustrated in FIG. 1 by thepersonal VAD directory (PVD) 20 shown within the user's device 18. Inother cases, the personal VAD directory may be stored in an element ofthe voice communications network 12 as shown in FIG. 1 by the personalVAD directory (PVD) 22 illustrated within the voice communicationsnetwork 12. The personal VAD directory also may be stored in an elementcommunicatively connected to the voice communications network 12(example not illustrated in FIG. 1).

The personal VAD directory of a user may be communicatively linked to aVAD device module that includes functions relating to VAD instructionsplaced by the user and/or the routing of VAD calls placed by the user.For example, if the user's personal VAD directory resides in or isdirectly linked to his or her device 18, such as a personal VADdirectory residing in the computer of a user, then an exemplaryembodiment of the inventions provides for a VAD device module 24 toreside in or be directly linked to the device 18. Nonetheless, the VADdevice module 24 need not necessarily also reside in the computer, butmay simply be communicatively linked to the user's personal VADdirectory 20. If the user's personal VAD directory resides elsewherethan the user's device 18, such as in an element of the voicecommunications network 12, then an exemplary embodiment of theinventions provides for the VAD device module 26 to be part of the voicecommunications network 12. The VAD device module 26 does not necessarilyhave to be a part of the voice communications network 26, but may becommunicatively linked to the personal VAD directory 22.

Whether the VAD device module resides on the user's device 18, in anelement of the voice communications network 12, or otherwise, in anexemplary embodiment of the inventions, the VAD device module monitorsfor failure of the user's personal VAD directory to find a directorynumber for a destination included in a VAD instruction. The VADinstructions may be provided by the user in association with a call. Acall associated with a VAD instruction is referred to herein as a VADcall.

For example, assume a user makes a VAD call using device 18. A VAD callis a call initiated by the user providing a VAD instruction such as“Call Michael Bishop” to a receiver of the device 18 instead of dialinga directory number. In some cases, the VAD instruction may be providedby the caller, but no call is created by the user. Rather, the call tothe destination in the VAD instruction may be initiated as a result ofactions of the VAD device module 26.

A VAD instruction is a directive provided by the user to achieve theresult of a communications function such as the calling of a particularparty, destination, or entity. The VAD instruction may include astatement of the communications function to be carried out such as the“call” function, and may include information as to whom or what to callsuch as the name or other identification of the party to be called,which may be referred to herein as call destination information ordestination information. As used herein, each of the terms “directorynumber”, “directory listing”, “call destination number” or “destinationnumber” constitute an identifier for an address or other locatorrelating to a communications device of a called party. A directorynumber, call destination number, or destination number may refer to atelephone number, a line number, a called party number, a called number,or directory listing.

Further assume for illustrative purposes the user provides the VADinstruction of “Call Bob Koch”, and the user's personal VAD directoryfails to find a match to “Bob Koch”. In an exemplary embodiment of theinventions, the VAD device module notes the failure and responds byrouting the call through the voice communications network 12 via agateway 16 to a VAD network module 28. In an alternative embodiment,where no call is initiated by the caller, the VAD device module maycause a call to be created and routed as described. As illustrated inFIG. 1, the VAD network module 28 is in a communicable relationship withthe gateway 16. The VAD network module 28 may include telecommunicationsswitch capabilities or other features to enable the VAD network module28 to carry out the actions described herein.

More particularly, assume the personal VAD directory 20 of the user andthe exemplary VAD device module 24 reside on or are otherwise in acommunicable relationship with the user's device 18. When the userinitiates a VAD call, a search is conducted for a match with respect tothe destination information provided by the caller in the VADinstruction and the personal VAD directory 20. If there is no match,then the exemplary VAD device module 24 responds by routing the call orby causing the call to be routed through the voice communicationsnetwork 12 to the gateway 16, and hence to the VAD network module 28.The VAD device module 24 may cause the routing of the call to the VADnetwork module 28 by providing an identifier such as an address ordirectory number assigned to the VAD network module 28.

Alternatively, the personal VAD directory 22 of the user and theexemplary VAD device module 26 may reside in or otherwise be in acommunicable relationship with an element of the voice communicationsnetwork 12. When the user initiates a VAD call, the call is received inthe voice communications network and a search is conducted for a matchwith respect to the destination information provided by the caller inthe VAD instruction and the personal VAD directory 26. In an alternativeembodiment, where there is no call initiated by the caller, but a VADinstruction is received, the search may be conducted with respect to thedestination information provided by the caller in the VAD instructionand the personal VAD directory 26. If there is no match, then theexemplary VAD device module 26 responds by routing the call or bycausing a call to be routed to the gateway 16, and to the VAD devicemodule 26. The VAD device module 24 may cause the routing of the call tothe VAD network module 28 by providing an identifier such as an addressor directory number assigned to the VAD network module 28.

As noted above, the call (where the user's personal VAD directory failedto find a match to destination information) (whether initiated by thecaller or by the VAD device module) is routed through the gateway 16 tothe VAD network module 28. The gateway 16 may be a voice/data gatewaysuch as a VoiceXML Gateway (also referred to as a “voice browser” orVOXML). Further, the gateway 16 may be connected to the voicecommunications network 12 and the data network 14 through systems thatinclude features or functionalities such as automatic speech recognition(ASR) and/or text-to-speech (TTS) (ASR/TTS). Thus, informationassociated with the call routed through the gateway 14 such as the VADinstruction (“Call Bob Koch”) (also referred to as call destinationinformation), or other information, may be translated into data for useby the VAD network module 28 in obtaining the call destination number.

Upon receipt of the call, the VAD network module 28 may extractinformation or data associated with the call and use that information ordata to obtain the call destination number. In particular, the VADnetwork module 28 may obtain the call destination information associatedwith the VAD call and send the call destination information via thegateway 16 to the data network 14, and in particular, to a source ofinformation such as a directory 30 or other directory 32 associated withthe data network 14. The directory 30 or other directory 32 may use thecall destination information to find a corresponding call destinationnumber. Of course, the call destination information may be concurrentlyor serially provided to one or more other elements (such as databases,etc.) communicatively connected to the data network 14 for retrieval ofa corresponding call destination number.

At some point, additional information relating to the call destinationinformation may be required or desirable to obtain the correspondingcall destination number. For example, upon receipt of the call, the VADnetwork module 28 may determine that information in addition to thedestination information is needed to find the destination number. Asanother example, a directory or other element searching for the calleddestination number may request additional information of the VAD networkmodule 28 for use in the search. Advantageously, the VAD network module28 may communicate with the call to obtain the additional information.As explained above, the call is routed by a VAD device module throughgateway 16 to the VAD network module 28. The VAD network module 28,therefore, may be linked to the caller and may quickly obtain additionalinformation without having to launch a separate call or query.

For example, the name of the called party may not be enough to find adestination number because the called party's name may be relativelycommon. The VAD network module 28 may communicate with the caller toobtain geographical information from the VAD call so as to narrow thesearch for a match. The VAD network module 28 may provide the additionaldestination information to the directories or other elements searchingfor the corresponding call destination number.

The directory 30 or other directory 32 may be an information source suchas a database or otherwise that includes information such as the namesof parties or entities and their respective destination numbers.

In response to receipt of the destination information (and theadditional information, if provided), the directory 30 looks for acorresponding destination number. The correspondence between the calldestination information and the call destination number typically is amatch of some identifying parts. Prior to looking for the match, or atother times, as noted above, the directory 30 may determine additionalinformation is required. The directory 30 may communicate with the VADnetwork module 28 with respect to the additional destinationinformation. The VAD network module 28 may obtain the additionalinformation from the VAD call, and provide the additional destinationinformation to the directory 30. One or more rounds of requests andsupply of additional information may occur between the VAD networkmodule 28 and the VAD call, and/or among the directory 30 (or otherelement), the VAD network module 28, and/or the VAD call.

In the example described in the previous paragraph, the VAD networkmodule 28 transmits call destination information through gateway 16 tothe data network 14 and to the directory 30 to obtain a call destinationnumber. Advantageously, the VAD network module 28 may concurrentlytransmit the call destination information to more than one directory orsource of information (such as to directory 30 and other directory 32,and/or other entity). Alternatively, the VAD network module 28 mayconsult the directory 30, other directory 32, and/or other entity inseries such as in the case of a failure of a previously consulted sourceto find the corresponding call destination number, or to find thecorresponding call destination within a preset time, or in other cases.

Upon finding the corresponding call destination number, the directory 30(and/or other information source) via the data network 14 sends thecorresponding destination number to the VAD network module 28. If thedirectory (and/or other information source) fails to find thecorresponding call destination number, the VAD network module 28 may beinformed of such failure.

As noted, the VAD network module 28 may send the destination information(and additional destination information) to a directory different fromdirectory 30 for obtaining the call destination number. FIG. 1illustrates that an example of such an “other directory” 32 may beaccessed via the data network 14, but such another directory may beotherwise situated. The other directory may function similarly to thedirectory 30 in finding a destination number based on destinationinformation (and additional destination information) provided by the VADnetwork module 28, and in returning the destination number to the VADnetwork module 28.

Once a destination number is provided to the VAD network module 28, itcauses the VAD call to be routed to the destination number. In theexample illustrated in FIG. 1, the VAD network module 28 causes the VADcall to be routed through the voice communications network 12 to thecalled party 34. By causing the VAD call to be routed to the destinationnumber, the VAD network module 28 drops out of the communications linkwith the VAD call.

If no destination number is found corresponding to the calleddestination information, then in an exemplary embodiment, the VADnetwork module 28 routes the VAD call to an attendant (not illustrated)connected in the voice communications network 12. For example, the VADnetwork module 28 may cause the VAD call to be routed to a predefineddefault directory number. Upon connection, the caller may be informed ofthe failure to find the corresponding destination number and may beprompted for other information or given other options.

In the exemplary method described above, a VAD device module responds toa failure to find a call destination number in a personal VAD directorywhen a VAD call including call destination information is made or a VADinstruction is received. A response of the VAD device module is to causethe VAD call to be routed through the voice communications network 12 tothe gateway 16 and to the VAD network module 28. Alternatively, if nocall is received, the VAD device module may initiate a call. The VADnetwork module 28 takes action to obtain the call destination numberfrom a source other than the personal VAD directory of the user. In analternative embodiment, a VAD device module may be configured to respondto all calls in the way the VAD device module is described above asresponding with respect to omissions in a personal VAD directory. A VADdevice module may be configured to cause all VAD calls to be routed tothe VAD network module, and/or all VAD instructions to result in a callthat is initiated by the VAD device module and routed to the VAD networkmodule. In other words, in the alternative embodiment, the need for apersonal VAD directory may be obviated. For example, a caller places aVAD call or provides a VAD instruction; the VAD device module respondsto the VAD call by routing it to the VAD network module and responds tothe VAD instruction by initiating a call to the VAD network module; theVAD network module obtains the call destination number from a sourcethrough the data network; and the VAD network module causes the VAD callor the initiated call to be routed to the call destination number.

An advantage of the exemplary methods is that the destination number maybe added to the personal VAD directory of the caller so that the callerdoes not have to spend the time nor make the effort of inputting thedestination number and associating it with a called party. By adding thedestination number and its associated information to the user's personalVAD directory, subsequent VAD calls to the called party having thedestination number may be more efficiently and speedily routed. Thedestination number may be added to the personal VAD directory by the VADdevice module.

In the exemplary embodiment, the destination number may be added to theuser's personal VAD directory automatically and associated with theappropriate destination information based on the information received aspart of the VAD instructions.

FIG. 2 Actions of an Exemplary Embodiment

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram summarizing actions of an exemplary method ofthe inventions. After start 36, a VAD call is received in action 38. AVAD call also may be referred to as a call that has an associated VADinstruction. Alternatively, a VAD instruction (rather than a VAD call)may be received. In action 40, the exemplary method notes the failure ofthe personal VAD directory of the user to provide a destination numberfor the called party identified in the VAD instruction. In response tothe failure, the VAD call is routed to a VAD network module in action42. Alternatively, where no call is received, a call may be initiatedand routed to the VAD network module.

As indicated by dashed arrow 43, an alternative method may respond tothe receipt of a VAD call or VAD instruction in action 38 by routing theVAD call or initiating a call to the VAD network module as illustratedin action 42. In other words, in the alternative embodiment, the action40 of noting the failure of the personal VAD directory to include a calldestination number is not a condition to the action of routing orinitiating the call to the VAD network module.

After routing of the VAD call or the initiated call to the VAD networkmodule, if necessary or desirable, in action 44, more informationrelating to the VAD call may be obtained. The more information mayinclude additional or alternative destination information relating tothe called party or destination. The destination information and, ifappropriate, more information may be provided to a directory (or otherinformation source) so as to obtain, in action 46, the directoryinformation (also referred to as the “directory listing”) relating tothe called party identified in the VAD call or in the VAD instruction.In action 48, the VAD call is routed to the directory number.

Action 50 of FIG. 2 illustrates an optional action(s) and optionsrelating to the addition of the obtained directory listing andassociated information to the personal VAD directory. For example, thedirectory listing and corresponding destination information may beautomatically added to the user's personal VAD directory. The exemplarymethod ends in action 52.

From the foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of theinventions and operation thereof, other embodiments will suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of theinventions is to be limited only by the claims below and equivalentsthereof.

1. A method for updating a first voice-activated dialing directory for acaller, comprising: receiving, into a caller device, a request from thecaller to determine a directory number based on a voice activateddialing instruction, wherein the caller has not initiated a call to thedirectory number corresponding to the request; translating at least partof the voice activated dialing instruction in a first directory intodata; retrieving, from the caller, geographical informationcorresponding to the voice activated dialing instruction; querying asecond directory, using the data and the geographical information, forthe directory number; retrieving the directory number from the seconddirectory; and updating the first directory with the directory numberretrieved from the second directory, wherein the first directory isresident on the caller device and wherein no call occurs between thecaller and the directory number.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thesecond directory is part of a data network.